All About Presentation…by Laura Bergells

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“I can bore you to death with a couple hundred PowerPoint slides for the next hour, or we can have a discussion and make this fun and interactive,” said the speaker. Seriously. Those were the first words out of his mouth. The audience of around 50 just sat there, including me. After about 5 silent …

As an intelligent business person, you might think you are excellent at answering simple, direct questions. But are you? Take this easy, 5-question quiz to find out: 1. A venture capitalist asks how much your new service costs. You: A: Explain how you and your team arrived at the various price points. B. Respond, “$79 …

Here’s my number one tip for writing scripts and speeches. It’s simple, powerful, and only four words long. Say it out loud. 1. Say 2. It 3. Out 4. Loud Four words. It’s such an easy tip. So simple. And so overlooked. I get to write and edit scripts and speeches and dialogues for a living. And …

I hope you never experience a crisis. But when you do, be prepared. Introducing Crisis Communication Fundamentals, my latest online course. It’s available now in the Lynda.com content library. I felt inspired to write this course because I’ve watched people struggle to figure out how to communicate when something unexpected and unpleasant strikes their organization. My aim is to …

You made a surprise announcement. You didn’t drop a bombshell. I’m more than a little strung out when I hear those in the news media say something like, “Mr. Peacock dropped a major bombshell at Wince Country Club today. We’ll give you details after the break.” Instantly, my mind goes to actual bombs. Wounded people. …

Public relations pros don’t like the word spin. Call one a “spin doctor” and that’s a low blow. A rude insult. So how can we put a better spin on our profession? As a child, my mom gave me this piece of life advice: “Don’t call people names they don’t want to be called.” However, …

Stock photos pretty much suck. Perhaps they had their time and place, but their moment has passed. After a few years of looking at your friend’s photos on Instagram and Facebook, your eyes have been accustomed to seeing real people doing real activities. In contrast, stock photos of people faking their emotions doesn’t quite resonate …

Throwback Thursday… In 2005, Merv Griffin said he wrote the Jeopardy! theme song in under a minute. “That little 30 seconds has made me a fortune, millions,” he said. How much exactly? Somewhere between 70 and 80 million. And that was ten years ago. Let’s pretend it took you 30 seconds to click through and read this …

People in Washington say it’s not the initial offense that gets you in trouble. It’s the cover-up. They say you should admit what you did, get the story out, and move on. What this overlooks is the fact that most of the time the cover-up works just fine, and nobody finds out anything. I would …